Thirteen-year-old’s pregnancy fears after being groomed by 31-year-old Leeds man

Paedophile Shaun Harrison groomed the youngster and would play “tickling games” with her before eventually kissing her and then having sex.

Leeds Crown Court was told it sparked fears in the youngster that she may be pregnant. She then told a friend before it was relayed it back to the victim’s mother, who called the police.

Prosecuting, David Bradshaw said the youngster took a pregnancy test which came back negative. Harrison was then arrested but he gave a largely no-comment interview, before admitting he bought her gifts and kissed her.

Harrison, of York Road, Leeds, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child. Mitigating on his behalf, Philip Mahoney said: “His insight is limited but his remorse is genuine. He is not a man who is experiencing self pity, it’s for the harm he has caused. He is accepting that it will be a custodial sentence.”

He said that Harrison did not purposely groom the child, which was rejected outright by Judge Robin Mairs, who said he “normalised physical contact” with the tickling, and then kissed her which he said was “criminally inappropriate”.

He told Harrison: “It was part of the grooming process. You were sexually attracted to that child and you knew from the outset how old she was.”

He jailed him for 40 months, gave him a sexual harm prevention order banning him from contact with anyone under 16, and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for life.